Change of the Health Condition of the Victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake
METHODS: A comparative analysis was performed for a total of 7,616 cases of medical examination results of those who underwent the medical examination for the earthquake victims in Iwate Prefecture in both 2011 and 2012.
RESULTS: The percentage of those whose BMI is ≥25kg/m2and who don’t live in a temporary house showed a marginal change from 32.2% to 32.0%, whereas that of those who live in a temporary house increased from 32.4% to 34.7%. Those with the Athens Insomnia Scale score of ≥6 showed an improvement from 25.4% to 19.2% in male respondents and from 38.5% to 29.0% in female respondents. Of them, those who live in a temporary house showed a high level of improvement from 40.6% to 31.2% compared with the improvement from 30.2% to 22.6% of those who don’t live in a temporary house. Those who had 5 points or over on the K6 mental health scale showed an improvement from 35.2% to 24.8% in the male respondents and from 46.8% to 36.3% in the female respondents. Of them, those who live in a temporary house showed a high level of improvement from 48.4% to 38.9% compared with the improvement from 39.7% to 28.7% of those who don’t live in a temporary house.
CONCLUSIONS: It was revealed from the results of the medical examination for the earthquake victims that although a tendency toward improvement was observed, there arose problems such as obesity due to the slow recovery particularly for the residents of the temporary houses.